Al Qaeda Claims Attacks in Turkey
Statements Sent to Arabic News Media
By Molly Moore
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, November 17, 2003; Page A01
ISTANBUL, Nov. 16 -- Two London-based Arabic-language publications said Sunday that they had received separate statements asserting al Qaeda's responsibility for the suicide bombings near two Istanbul synagogues that killed 23 people and injured 303.
A group linked to al Qaeda, the Abu-Hafs al-Masri Brigades, said in an e-mail to the daily al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper that it conducted the bombings in Istanbul on Saturday and that al Qaeda planned attacks in other countries, including the United States.
"We tell the criminal Bush and his Arab and Western tails -- especially Britain, Italy, Australia and Japan -- that cars of death will not stop at Baghdad, Riyadh, Istanbul, Nasiriyah, Jakarta, etc, until you see them with your own eyes in the middle of the capital of this era's tyrant, America," the statement said.
The e-mail message said the two synagogues in the heart of Istanbul were targeted because al Qaeda associates believed agents of the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, were inside. The missive also cited Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories as a motive for attacks against Jews worldwide.
A second message, e-mailed to the London-based weekly al-Majalla, said al Qaeda carried out the Istanbul bombings as well as the Nov. 12 bombing of the headquarters of the Italian military police in Nasiriyah, Iraq, which killed 19 Italians and at least 12 Iraqis. The message bore the signature of Abu Mohammed Ablaj, who has been identified as an al Qaeda operative by U.S. officials.
Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said Sunday night that he was aware of the claims, but told reporters in the Turkish capital, Ankara, that an investigation of the near-simultaneous suicide bombings was continuing. The authenticity of the messages could not be determined independently, though al-Quds al-Arabi has been a conduit for previous messages from al Qaeda.
Turkish officials have blamed "international organizations" for the attack, and the Turkish daily newspaper Sabah declared Sunday in a front-page headline "Al Qaeda hit us, too." A Western diplomat said Sunday that "indicators are that it's pretty likely" that al Qaeda was involved, but added that it "would be speculation" to make that claim without substantiated evidence.
In recent months, both Turkey and its Jewish population had received increased warnings of possible terrorist attacks, according to local Jewish leaders and foreign diplomats. Two months ago, the U.S. State Department stiffened a travel advisory warning Americans visiting Turkey of the potential for terrorist attacks.
Turkey, a secular Muslim nation, has stronger ties with the United States and Israel than any other Muslim nation. Many Turkish political analysts said those relations made Turkey a particularly vulnerable target for extremist Islamic organizations.
"We knew Turkey was a target," said Sami Kohen, a columnist for the daily Turkish newspaper Milliyet and a prominent member of the Jewish community. "It was known all through the Jewish community, and very strict security measures were taken. This is the kind of terrorism that can't be completely stopped."
Turkish police and health authorities said all but one of the 23 people who were killed had been identified. Officials said the unidentified body might be that of one of the bombers.
Deniz Sanporta, a spokeswoman for the office of Turkey's chief rabbi, said five of the 23 victims had been identified as Jews and the remaining casualties were Muslims. She said 60 Jews who had been inside the two synagogues were wounded but that the majority of the 303 wounded were Muslims who had been in the street or inside nearby shops and houses.
"We don't think this was targeting only the Jewish people," Sanporta said. "This was targeting all Turkish people. There were more Muslim dead than Jewish dead."
But the statement sent to al-Quds al-Arabi indicated the double suicide bombing had specifically targeted Jews.
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